Protective fabric and protective clothing

ABSTRACT

A protective fabric is provided. The protective fabric includes a sheet-like body that is flexible, and a plurality of overlaid portions that is in the sheet-like body and discrete. Each of the plurality of overlaid portions includes tungsten.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Patent Application Number 2017-067720 filed on Mar. 30, 2017, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a protective fabric and protective clothing.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, a bulletproof layer is known which is formed of an absorbing layer that contains foam glass in whole or in large part (see, for example, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (Translation of PCT Application) No. 2014-529719)).

SUMMARY

Although the application of the above-described bulletproof layer to a piece of protective clothing can be considered, the bulletproof layer may restrict the movement of the wearer because the bulletproof layer is not highly flexible. The absorbing layer can be reduced in thickness to increase flexibility, which decreases protectiveness.

In view of this, the present disclosure has an object to provide a protective fabric and protective clothing that are capable of increasing flexibility while maintaining protectiveness.

In order to achieve the above object, a protective fiber according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: a sheet-like body that is flexible; and a plurality of overlaid portions that is in the sheet-like body and discrete. Each of the plurality of overlaid portions includes tungsten.

A piece of protective clothing according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: the protective fiber; and a clothing body that holds the protective fabric.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a protective fabric and protective clothing that are capable of increasing flexibility while maintaining protectiveness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The figures depict one or more implementations in accordance with the present teaching, by way of examples only, not by way of limitations. In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and a partially exploded view of a piece of protective clothing according to Embodiment 1;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view and a partially enlarged plan view of a protective fabric according to Embodiment 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the protective fabric according to Embodiment 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a wire according to a variation of Embodiment 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view and a partially enlarged plan view of a protective fabric according to Embodiment 2; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the protective fabric according to Embodiment 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, protective fabrics according to embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments described below each show a specific example. As such, the numerical values, shapes, materials, structural components, the arrangement and connection of the structural components, etc. shown in the following embodiments are mere examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, among the structural components in the following embodiments, structural components not recited in any of the independent claims which indicate the broadest concepts of the present disclosure are described as optional structural components.

It should be noted that the figures are schematic diagrams and are not necessarily precise illustrations. Accordingly, for example, the figures are not necessarily to scale. Furthermore, in the figures, substantially identical components are assigned the same reference signs, and overlapping descriptions thereof may be omitted or simplified.

Embodiment 1 [Configuration]

First, the following describes an outline of piece of protective clothing 1 according to Embodiment 1 with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a perspective view and a partially exploded view of piece of protective clothing 1 according to Embodiment 1.

Here, piece of protective clothing 1 is a protector having protectiveness. “Protectiveness” means being at least bulletproof or stab-proof. Although a case in which piece of protective clothing 1 is upper wear is described in Embodiment 1, piece of protective clothing 1 may be lower wear.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, piece of protective clothing 1 includes clothing body 2 and protective body 3. Clothing body 2 is produced by sewing a generic fabric. The generic fabric is a fabric having no protectiveness. Each of front body 21 and back body 22 of clothing body 2 holds protective body 3. In FIG. 1, protective body 3 held by front body 21 is indicated by a broken line, and protective body 3 held by back body 22 is omitted.

Specifically, front body 21 and back body 22 have a bag shape, and each of front body 21 and back body 22 holds protective body 3 by placing protective body 3 inside. Examples of the holding method include a holding method by which protective body 3 is directly sewn on each of front body 21 and back body 22 and a holding method by which protective body 3 is joined to each front body 21 and back body 22 with an adhesive.

Protective body 3 is produced by layering protective fabrics 4 having the same shape. Protective fabrics 4 each are a fabric that is bulletproof and stab-proof. The following describes protective fabric 4 in detail.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view and a partially enlarged plan view of protective fabric 4 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of protective fabric 4 according to Embodiment 1. Specifically, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of protective fabric 4 taken along line III-III in FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, protective fabric 4 is a woven fabric including yarns 41 and wires 42 made of tungsten, and has an external shape that allows front body 21 or back body 22 to hold protective fabric 4. Protective fabric 4 is produced by weaving yarns 41 as warp yarns and wires 42 as weft yarns. The fabric construction of protective fabric 4 is, for example, plain weave.

Yarns 41 are more flexible than wires 42. Yarns 41 are twisted yarns produced by twisting, for example, natural fibers or chemical fibers. It should be noted that yarns 41 may be single yarns.

Wires 42 have the same configuration. Specifically, wires 42 have the same diameter, length, degree of tungsten purity, etc. It should be noted that wires 42 may include a wire having at least one of the diameter, length, and degree of tungsten purity which is different from the other wires.

Wires 42 have a diameter of, for example, at least 40 μm and at most 200 μm. When wires 42 are made into protective fabric 4, protective fabric 4 is capable of acquiring certain properties in terms of being both bulletproof and stab-proof because wires 42 have the diameter of at least 40 μm. In addition, wires 42 have greater flexibility and protective fabric 4 become more flexible because wires 42 have the diameter of at most 200 μm.

Wires 42 have a degree of tungsten purity of, for example, at least 99.9%. It can be also said that each of wires 42 includes integral-type tungsten. Wires 42 may have a degree of tungsten purity of, for example, at least 95%, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.

Each wire 42 that is extra fine and made of tungsten may be produced by, for example, the following method. Tungsten powder having a particle diameter of 5 μm is press-molded and sintered to be a tungsten ingot. Next, the tungsten ingot is swaged into a wire by being press-forged from its periphery and extended. Subsequently, drawing of the wire (wire drawing) is performed using drawing dies. The drawing is performed using the drawing dies each having a different pore diameter in decreasing order of pore diameter.

For example, when a weight ratio of an amount of oxide included in the wire having a mass of 50 MG is at least 0.2% and at most 0.5%, the drawing is started using a single crystal diamond die having a pore diameter of 200 μm as the first die. With this, wire 42 having surface roughness Ra of at most 0.10 μm can be produced. It should be noted that “MG” is a unit that indicates a numerical value representing, in milligrams, a mass of a wire having a length of 200 mm. The tensile strength of wire 42 increases as a result of performing the drawing using wire drawing dies. In other words, wire 42 is less likely to break off even when wire 42 is made extra fine, or rather increases in strength by being made extra fine.

Attention focused only on yarns 41 in protective fabric 4, yarns 41 are disposed in a sheet-like shape. In other words, yarns 41 constitute sheet-like body 6 that is flexible. Portions of wires 42 overlapping with yarns 41 (shaded portions in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) are overlaid portions 421 that are in sheet-like body 6 and discrete. Stated differently, overlaid portions 421 are the portions of wires 42 overlapping with yarns 41 in a plan view.

It should be noted that yarns 41 and wires 42 may be weft yarns and warp yarns, respectively. Moreover, yarns 41 and wires 42 can be mixed in weft yarns, and yarns 41 and wires 42 can also be mixed in warp yarns. In the case of mixing, wires 42 should be spaced out evenly in order to achieve balanced protectiveness of protective fabric 4 as a whole.

It should be noted that the fabric construction of protective fabric 4 is not limited to the above-described plain weave, and may be twill weave such as 2/1 twill weave and 3/1 twill weave, or satin weave etc. Moreover, protective fabric 4 may be produced by knitting yarns 41 and wires 42 as knitting yarns. Even when a protective fabric is a knit fabric, the knitting yarns constitute a sheet-like body, and portions of wires overlapping with yarns are overlaid portions.

Advantageous Effects Etc.

As described above, protective fiber 4 according to Embodiment 1 includes: sheet-like body 6 that is flexible; and overlaid portions 421 that are in sheet-like body 6 and discrete. Overlaid portions 421 each include tungsten.

According to this configuration, since overlaid portions 421 each including tungsten are in sheet-like body 6 and discrete, overlaid portions 421 are capable of being bulletproof and stab-proof. In addition, since overlaid portions 421 are in sheet-like body 6 and discrete, portions exposed from overlaid portions 421 are present in sheet-like body 6. Since these exposed portions have the flexibility of sheet-like body 6, protective fabric 4 is flexible at the exposed portions. With this, it is possible to increase the flexibility of protective fabric 4 while maintaining the protectiveness of the same.

Moreover, since overlaid portions 421 each include tungsten, it is possible to shield radiation.

Piece of protective clothing 1 according to Embodiment 1 includes: protective fabric 4; and clothing body 2 that holds protective fabric 4.

According to this configuration, since piece of protective clothing 1 includes protective fabric 4 having greater flexibility while maintaining protectiveness as above, it is also possible to increase the flexibility of protective clothing 1 while maintaining the protectiveness of the same. In particularly, since protective fabrics 4 are layered and held, it is also possible to increase the protectiveness of piece of protective clothing 1 as a whole. It should be noted that if single protective fabric 4 does not provide sufficient protectiveness, front body 21 and back body 22 of clothing body 2 may each hold single protective fabric 4.

Moreover, sheet-like body 6 includes yarns 41, protective fabric 4 is one of a knit fabric and a woven fabric that includes yarns 41 and wires 42 each of which includes tungsten, and overlaid portions 421 include portions of wires 42 that overlap with yarns 41 in a plan view.

According to this configuration, since protective fabric 4 is one of the knit fabric and the woven fabric that include yarns 41 and wires 42 each of which includes tungsten, it is possible to dispose overlaid portions 421 discretely by one of weaving and knitting using yarns 41 and wires 42. In addition, since wires 42 are wire rods, it is possible to densely dispose wires 42 in one of the woven fabric and the knit fabric in whole. Accordingly, protective fabric 4 is capable of providing protectiveness as a whole.

Moreover, wires 42 each have a diameter of at least 40 μm and at most 200 μm.

According to this configuration, since wires 42 each have the diameter of at least 40 μm, when wires 42 are made into protective fabric 4, protective fabric 4 is capable of acquiring certain properties in terms of being both bulletproof and stab-proof. In addition, since wires 42 each have the diameter of at most 200 μm, wires 42 have greater flexibility and protective fabric 4 become more flexible.

It should be noted that although Embodiment 1 describes the case in which protective fabric 4 is produced using wires 42 that are not coated, a protective fabric can be produced using coated wires.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of wire 42 a according to a variation of Embodiment 1. As illustrated in FIG. 4, wire 42 a has a surface covered with cover layer 43. Cover layer 43 is, for example, a twisted yarn, and covers the surface of wire 42 a by twisting wire 42 a as a core. Accordingly, it is possible to make surface textures between yarns 41 and wires 42 a more alike, which allows the enhancement of the appearance of protective fabric 4.

Embodiment 2

Embodiment 1 describes the case in which overlaid portions 421 made of tungsten are discrete by wires 42 and yarns 41 being woven. In contrast, Embodiment 2 describes a case in which overlaid portions include films. It should be noted that in what follows, the same reference signs are assigned to portions that are the same as in Embodiment 1, and descriptions thereof may be omitted.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view and a partially enlarged plan view of protective fabric 4B according to Embodiment 2. FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of protective fabric 4B according to Embodiment 2. Specifically, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of protective fabric 4B taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, protective fabric 4B includes sheet-like body 6 b and overlaid portions 8.

Sheet-like body 6 b is a fabric body having no protectiveness. Specifically, sheet-like body 6 b is a woven fabric produced by weaving yarns 41 as warp yarns and weft yarns. It should be noted that a sheet-like body may be a knit fabric produced by knitting yarns 41 or a nonwoven fabric produced by entangling flexible fibers.

Overlaid portions 8 include films deposited on the surface of sheet-like body 6 b, and are made of tungsten. The plan view shape of overlaid portions 8 is a regular hexagonal shape. Moreover, overlaid portions 8 are discretely and evenly spaced out on the surface of sheet-like body 6 b. Accordingly, interval H between adjacent ones of overlaid portions 8 is constant. Greater interval H reduces bulletproof and stab-proof levels of protective fabric 4B as a whole. For this reason, interval H may be smaller than the diameter of a bullet head or the thickness of a blade edge. Specifically, interval H may be at most 3 mm and more preferably at most 1 mm.

Overlaid portions 8 are sprayed films produced by a thermal spraying technique. Specifically, the sprayed films are produced by a thermal spraying device melting or softening a tungsten material with heat, performing microparticulation of the tungsten material and accelerating the minute particles, and causing the minute particles to collide with sheet-like body 6 b. As a result, each of overlaid portions 8 includes integral-type tungsten. At the time of thermal spraying, a mask is disposed between a nozzle of the thermal spraying device and sheet-like body 6 b. The mask is provided with openings in advance, and the tungsten material passing the openings is formed into overlaid portions 8 on sheet-like body 6 b. In other words, overlaid portions 8 can be collectively formed. Moreover, the shape of the openings of the mask determines the plan view shape of overlaid portions 8. In other words, controlling the shape of the openings of the mask allows control of the plan view shape of overlaid portions 8. Similarly, because the layout of the openings of the mask determines the layout of overlaid portions 8, controlling the layout of the openings of the mask allows control of the layout of overlaid portions 8.

It should be noted that the films to be overlaid portions 8 can be produced by a technique other than the thermal spraying technique. Examples of the technique include a 3D printing technique. Specifically, such a 3D printing technique is, for example, binder jetting in which tungsten granular materials are combined by binder being jetted, and are sintered by heat.

It should be noted that although Embodiment 2 describes the case in which the plan view shape of overlaid portions 8 is the regular hexagonal shape, the plan view shape of overlaid portions may be any other shape. Examples of the plan view shape of overlaid portions 8 include a polygonal shape other than a hexagon, a ring shape, an elliptical shape, and an inner shape defined by a closed curve other than these shapes. In addition, although Embodiment 2 describes the case in which overlaid portions 8 have the same plan view shape, overlaid portions 8 may have different plan view shapes.

As above, according to Embodiment 2, overlaid portions 8 include films on a surface of sheet-like body 6 b.

According to this configuration, since overlaid portions 8 include films, overlaid portions 8 can be produced using, for example, a thermal spraying technique or a 3D printing technique. If overlaid portions 8 can be produced using such a technique, it is possible to enhance the degree of freedom of a plan view shape and a layout of overlaid portions 8. For example, in view of the whole protective fabric, a layout is easily employed in which overlaid portions 8 are not disposed in a portion for which flexibility is emphasized. Conversely, in view of the whole protective fabric, a layout is easily employed in which overlaid portions 8 are broadly disposed in a portion for which protectiveness is emphasized. As above, if overlaid portions 8 are the films, a protective fabric is easily produced depending the intended use.

Moreover, the films are sprayed films.

According to this configuration, sprayed films produced by a thermal spraying technique can be used as overlaid portions 8. The thermal spraying technique is capable of collectively producing overlaid portions 8.

It should be noted that Embodiment 2 illustrates the case in which sheet-like body 6 b is a fabric body. However, sheet-like body 6 b may be any sheet-like body as long as the sheet-like body has flexibility. Examples of the sheet-like body other than the fabric body include a resin sheet and a piece of paper.

(Others)

Although protective fabric 4 and protective clothing 1 according to the present disclosure are described above based on Embodiments 1 and 2, the present disclosure is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments.

For example, Embodiments 1 and 2 describe the case in which clothing body 2 including the fabric having no protectiveness holds protective body 3. However, a clothing body itself can be produced using a protective fabric. In this case, a protective body may be omitted from a piece of protective clothing. In contrast, when a clothing body is produced using a protective fabric and the clothing body holds the protective body, it is possible to further increase protectiveness.

Moreover, although Embodiments 1 and 2 describe the case in which each of front body 21 and back body 22 of clothing body 2 holds protective body 3, another portions of clothing body 2 (e.g., sleeves and a collar) may each hold a protective body.

While the foregoing has described one or more embodiments and/or other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that they may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and all modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present teachings. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A protective fabric, comprising: a sheet-like body that is flexible; and a plurality of overlaid portions that is in the sheet-like body and discrete, wherein each of the plurality of overlaid portions includes tungsten.
 2. The protective fabric according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of overlaid portions includes integral-type tungsten.
 3. The protective fabric according to claim 1, wherein the sheet-like body includes yarns, the protective fabric is one of a knit fabric and a woven fabric that includes the yarns and wires, each of the wires including the tungsten, and the plurality of overlaid portions includes portions of the wires that overlap with the yarns in a plan view.
 4. The protective fabric according to claim 3, wherein the protective fabric is the woven fabric, the woven fabric includes one of warp yarns and weft yarns as the yarns, and an other of the warp yarns and the weft yarns is the wires.
 5. The protective fabric according to claim 3, wherein the wires each have a diameter of at least 40 μm and at most 200 μm.
 6. The protective fabric according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of overlaid portions includes films on a surface of the sheet-like body.
 7. The protective fabric according to claim 6, wherein the films are sprayed films.
 8. The protective fabric according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of overlaid portions is discretely and evenly spaced.
 9. The protective fabric according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of overlaid portions have a same shape in a plan view.
 10. A piece of protective clothing, comprising: the protective fabric according to claim 1; and a clothing body that holds the protective fabric. 